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EDUaATIONAL MONOGRAPHS 



FUBLISHSD BT THE 



New York College for the Training of Teachers 

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NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, EDITOR 



Vol. hi. No. 1. | "■■'*"^i?; l^,^e':"?ct« IVtl^"' f Whole No. 13. 

Manual X^^aining 



IN THE 



Public Schools 



BY 



^V>^ 



CHARLES Rp^^klCHARDS 

Director of Mechanic Arts Dep't, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, 



^■\v 



AND 



HENRY P. O'NEIL 

Principal of Grammar School No. 1, New York City. 



JANUARY, 1890 




New Yobk: 9 University Place 
London: Thomas Laurie, 28 Paternoster Row 



IsexTBD Bi-Mo»thlt] 



[$1.00 Peb Annum 



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PREFATORY NOTE. 



The two papers which follow were prepared for the 
New York Conference of Educational Workers and read 
at a quarterly meeting of the Conference held on October 
24, 1889. They are now printed in the EDUCATIONAL 
Monographs Series by authority and direction of the 
Executive Committee of the Conference. 



Copyrigbt, 1889, 
New York Coi.lege for the Training of Teachers. 



Entered at Stationers' Hall. 



What Manual Training Should be Intro- 
duced into the Public Schools. 



In attempting- this paper the writer has been constantly 
aware of the difificulty of his task. To lay out a scheme 
of manual work which will fit into the present conditions 
of our school system ; one which will in each stage be 
perfectly adapted to the development of the pupil and 
which will, as a whole, be comprehensive and harmonious, 
is not yet possible. No one can elaborate such a scheme 
to-day ; it will only be after years of experiment that the 
possibilities of these new methods will be developed and 
the different elements fitted and smoothed into place. 
It is difficult, in fact impossible, for one person to speak 
with authority on the exact relations of the various means 
which have been employed, for while well-adapted courses 
have been developed in many of the school grades, in no 
single instance have all these most approved and most 
thoroughly tested methods been united into a complete 
system. Nor has it been possible for any single person to 
come in actual working contact with all of these methods, 
and it is only from those in such close contact, from the 
workers, that a natural and harmonious system of manual 
training can come. This paper, consequently, is offered 
more in the hope that it may serve as a basis of discus- 
sion, leading to the improvement of its suggestions, than 
for the ultimate good it may contain. Although the full 
benefit of manual training is only realized when its spirit 



4 Manual Training in the Public Schools. 

enters into all the exercises of the school-room and finds 
expression in them all, this paper will not attempt to deal 
with the new methods introduced into the study of lan- 
guage, number and geography, but will confine itself to 
the more special occupations of hand-work. 

Taking a view of the entire system of what may be 
called popular education, from the kindergarten through 
the high school, we find in the two extremes of the scale 
the problem of manual training to a great extent solved, 
with methods fairly defined and tested by years of prac- 
tice ; but in the middle period, that of the primary and 
grammer schools, we are compelled to admit that the 
problem is still in the experimental stage. But assuredly, 
if the new methods are to affect broadly the educational 
work of the country it is here that they must be developed 
and perfected. It is undeniable that much of the present 
vagueness of system and lack of uniformity in the work 
attempted in the primary and grammar grades comes from 
the fact that the problem of this work was attempted after 
the kindergarten and manual training methods had be- 
come prominent. There has been from the first a ten- 
dency to draw methods up from below and down from 
above, rather than to meet the needs of each stage from 
a study of its own conditions. The exercises of the kin- 
dergarten have been used in the primary grades and the 
work of the manual training school attempted in the upper 
classes of the grammar school. This violation of the first 
principle of pedagogy, adaptation of method to the intel- 
lectual calibre of the pupil, has doubtless hindered the 
development of hand-work courses suited to the primary 
and grammar grades. 

Leaving aside then the work of the kindergarten, which 
has had the advantage of so many years of study and the 
labor of so many workers, we may consider the first year 
of the primary grades. Here the work must be of the 
simplest character. There can be very little application of 



Manual Training in the Public Schools. 5 

thought on the part of the pupil, for as yet there is very 
little thought-power developed in him. The first stages 
must deal with observation ; expression must come later. 
The elementary ideas of form should be gained by actual 
experience and study of objects, after which the simplest 
means of expression may be cultivated. First of all, then, 
the simplest type forms (sphere, cube and cylinder) are 
to be studied, and for this purpose solids, wholes not 
parts, should be used: They are to be studied not by 
sight alone, but by touch, by handling, and their nature 
brought out by questions and experiment until a true 
idea of the elementary properties of the forms is gained. 
From this as a basis the exercises may lead to the sim- 
plest forms of expression ; first, of the idea of the whole, 
for that is the simplest. For this purpose clay, wax or 
putty may be used, but experience seems to point to clay 
as best suited to class room work. In this material, by 
working with the fingers and hands, the solids can be imi- 
tated and the impressions already gained, sharpened and 
corrected. Later, slips of paper cut into squares and other 
forms may be compared with the faces of the objects. 
These slips when folded symmetrically produce other 
forms, like faces of other solids and by this means an un- 
conscious analysis of the form is made and a further idea 
gained of its properties. This folding across center lines 
may be carried much farther, and scissor- or knife-cuts 
made along the creases and the resulting pieces studied 
and arranged about centres as simple designs. Still hand- 
ling the models the attention may bexarried to the edges 
and after running the fingers over these and imitating 
the outlines in the air the first attempts at drawing may 
be made. It will be expression of the simplest kind, a 
record, as far as the child is able to make it, of the image 
formed in its own mind by the handling and study of the 
models and the endeavor should be to make this expres- 
sion as free and genuine as possible. 



6 Manual Training in the Public Schools. 

In this first primary year, then, there has been an at- 
tempt to develop in the child's mind the elementary ideas 
of form by handling and experiment, and then to deepen 
and sharpen those impressions by reproducing the ideas 
in clay, paper and lines. 




1j -. 





PliATK i. 

This plate represents the character of the first year paper work. 
The pieces in the left hand upper corner showing forms in which paper 
is given, following which are simple folds and forms resulting from 
cuts along the folds. 



Manual Training in the Public Schools. 7 

The study and handling of the models should continue 
in the second primary year. Here a few other forms 
(cone, square pyramid, triangular prism, etc.) may be 
introduced and their making in clay carried out in the 
manner of the first year. Besides these type forms, exam- 
ples of them in familiar objects, may be compared and 
made. In the paper work of this grade the practice in 
drawing may be made use of; lines on the squares of 
paper may take the place of folds. These lines at first 
would be much like the folds, following the diameters and 
diagonals ; but afterwards, by the use of simple curves 
and freer lines, there would be secured at once a greater 
range of expression and an opportunity to carry the sim- 
ple design arrangements much further. These design 
arrangements after being made from the paper folds and 
cuttings, may be drawn on manila paper. Besides the 
line work just spoken of, the drawing may deal with the 
faces and to some extent with the appearance of the 
models. 

In the third primary year the remaining type forms may 
be added and their study continued. The clay work may 
here reach beyond the mere imitation of these forms to the 
modeling of natural forms and simple casts. The paper 
work will be freer from the use of curved lines, and the 
drawing, besides picturing the appearance of the different 
solids alone and combined, may take up the elementary 
ideas of the working drawing and the arrangement and 
relation of the different views of the simple solids. 

The subject of color instruction is in too undeveloped a 
state to attempt to lay out a comprehensive scheme for it, 
but, as will be readily seen, in the arrangement of paper 
forms into designs an opportunity is offered, by employing 
differently colored papers, to bring out the relations of the 
colors and their proper values ; but great care should be 
taken that the combinations always express unity and 
harmony and never display strong contrasts. 



Manual Training in the Public Schools. 




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Plate n. 
In this plate are shown specimens of second and third primary year 
paper work, the drawing in each case accompanying the piece. The 
exercises given are simply indicative of the nature of the work and do 
not by any means represent its scope. 



Manual Training in the Public Schools. g 

In the beginnings of the grammar school work, when 
the pupils have reached the average age of eleven years, 
the methods used may change somewhat in character. 
The handling of the solids in the manner of the primary 
years is left behind, the usefulness of clay modeling purely 
for purposes of geometric form-study is, in a great meas- 
ure, outgrown and if used beyond this point it should be 
solely on artistic grounds. Paper folding and cutting in 
the flat no longer meet the pupil's needs, but another kind 
of paper work may here begin, the operations of which are 
of the utmost value. This is the making of geometrical 
forms out of thick paper or cardboard. Here, too, the 
use of simple instruments may well commence. In the 
primary grades, before the pupils' appreciation of accuracy 
has been sufficiently quickened to derive benefit from their 
use, instruments have not been employed. There the 
object sought is rather clearness of thought and freedom 
of execution, but now that some notions of the different 
forms and their properties have been obtained, the occu- 
pations may seek to express them with all the accuracy 
possible. The only instruments needed at first will be 
the rule, two small triangles, and later a very simple form 
of pencil compass. Although in all the work of the pre- 
vious grades, in the handling of models, comparing of 
faces and folding of paper, the pupils have been studying 
the properties of form, which is simply pure geometry, 
they now approach the subject in its more exact relations. 
And here it seems as if the scope and power of these 
methods can hardly be over-estimated. The subject of 
geometry, the science of form, instead of being left to the 
higher schools as a dreaded logical study, is here learned 
in the doing and making. The cold statement of laws 
and propositions becomes invested with meaning and life 
when brought into the actual experience of the pupil, and 
when their expression in the material world about them 
is made clear. The elements of this kind of work have 



10 Manual Training in the Public Schools. 

been often used and are well suited to the needs of the 
first grammar year, but the possibilities have certainly not 
yet been reached, and the writer has little doubt that this 
occupation could be carried on with great value, not only 
as dictation work, but in the form of problems, throughout 
all the grammar grades. The exercises can be carried to 
almost any extent. After making the type forms singly, 
their combinations may be studied ; as, for example, after 
a simple cylinder the intersection of two cylinders in an 
angle joint may be taken up, so touching on the principles 
of sheet metal work and the basis of many operations 
practiced in the arts. 

The drawing which has now ceased to be merely an 
expression of simple form-study, must be carried on be- 
yond this point as a special subject and will not be dealt 
with further in this paper, except to point out that what- 
ever may be the nature of the work, representation, con- 
struction or decoration, it only attains its greatest value 
as the expression of an idea, and unless this idea is 
grasped by the pupil, — in other words, is his own idea, — 
the work is merely imitative and destitute of educational 
results. 

This work of the first grammar year may, of course, 
be carried on in the regular class room, and this must be 
the character of the greater part if not of all the work 
attempted in the grammar grades. Separate laboratories, 
to accomodate the large numbers of the many grades, 
would be practically impossible in our large city schools. 
But besides this, there is another and still stronger reason 
why it is desirable to carry on this work in the regular 
class-room and under the direction of the regular teacher, 
as far as possible : it is that these exercises, to have their 
greatest value, must be followed as part of the regular 
school work, they must harmonize with all the other exer- 
cises and react upon them. This can be much better 
accomplished by the teacher, whose influence over the 



Manual Training in the Public Schools. 



II 



w 













1 1 li 


B c 










Plate III. 

I' 

This plate shows a few built up type forms with and without their 
patterns. The exercises possible are of course almost endless and 
applicable to very different grades of pupils. 



12 Manual Training in the Public Schools. 

class has been acquired by daily contact, than by separate 
instructors and among different surroundings. It would 
however undoubtedly be best to provide for the supervison 
of such work by competent experts, for some time to 
come. 

It is in view of these facts that many experiments have 
lately been made towards developing a very simple kind 
of wood-work which can be done on boards placed on the 
regular school desks and which will lead on from the 
cardboard work of the first year of the grammar school 
and prepare for the joinery work of the later grades. In 
these experiments the thought has been that by employ- 
ing very thin strips of wood which represent, practically, 
but two dimensions, simple combinations might be made 
and the first ideas of wood joints obtained without the 
difficulty of securing a fit throughout a considerable thick- 
ness. The tools needed in this work would be the same as 
in the cardboard work, with the addition of a small chisel 
or knife and hammer. The material can be obtained read- 
ily in strips and divided up for class use by running knife 
cuts across and breaking, so as to leave an irregular edge. 
Marking off and cutting with the chisel can then be per- 
formed on the lower part of the board, after which the 
pieces can be tacked in position and tested with the 
triangles on the upper part of the board. A certain por- 
tion of the pupil's work can be kept in this position for 
inspection and readily removed by lifting the pins. 

Beyond this, in the third year, simple exercises with 
wood in the solid may be taken up and at this stage the 
Swedish Sloyd work offers many suggestions. It is hardly 
possible, nor is it desirable to use the exact exercises 
as employed in Sweden ; — many of the models have no 
significance in American eyes and are not adapted to 
American tools. The methods of instruction must also 
be modified considerably; class methods of instruction 
must be adopted, in place of individual teaching, and 



Manual Training i?t the Public Schools. 



13 




Plate IV. 
This cut gives some idea of the nature of the slip work. The pieces 
used are one inch wide and one-sixteenth or one-eighth inch thick. 
Basswood, whitewood and white pine are suitable woods, and the 
cutting may be performed by either a light and short paring chisel or 
a special knife with a straight slanting cutting edge at the end. The 
small strip at the bottom of the board is used to place the slip and 
triangle against when marking o£F. |^ 



14 Manual Training in the Public Schools. 

the use of drawings and exact measurement introduced. 
It is not the copying of the exercises of Sloyd that will be 
helpful, but the study of some of its underlying principles, 
viz.: the simplicity of the first operations, the few tools 
required, the freehand character of the work and the 
economy of material — all of which tend to meet the neces- 
sities of the school room. These principles are admirably 
carried out in the earliest Sloyd work, and it is this work 
which offers the most fruitful suggestions for the solution 
of the present problem. The work which requires only 
the knife, chisel and laying-out tools, and leaves out the 
planes and saws can be carried on in the regular class 
room, by special teacher, perhaps, with but little cost for 
equipment. This matter is dwelt upon with emphasis be- 
cause it is believed that any methods involving considera- 
ble cost of equipment and separate laboratories, however 
satisfactory in the results, do not meet, but distinctly avoid 
this public school problem of lower grade work. 

There is one principle of Sloyd which is hardly consis- 
tent with the best results in class work, and that is the 
making of each exercise a completely finished article. 
Those articles which serve a useful end generally repre- 
sent a repetition of a few operations and their construction 
involves a large amount of time without corresponding 
return. If a tool is to be used for the first time upon a 
constructive piece, there is very little chance of the work 
being satisfactorily finished in the first attempt, and the 
operation has to be repeated many times with much 
consequent waste before a successful issue is reached. 
It is here that the advantages of the Russian system, 
in which each exercise represents a single principle or 
method, are strongly apparent. By this system the prac- 
tice necessary to the command of the tool is gained and 
the knowledge of methods acquired with the least con- 
sumption of time and material, before actual constructive 
work is taken up ; and it is, without doubt, this principle 



Manual Training in the Public Schools. 15 

that must guide whatever is done in the higher grammar 
grades in the work that approaches the actual processes of 
the shop. But even here too much must not be attempted. 

Although the principle is everywhere accepted and 
emphatically repeated that the school must not attempt 
special instruction, must not do" trade work yet almost 
every attempt at introducing the work into the schools 
is greatly influenced by the conventional practice of the 
carpenter's trade. Ht5" tools are copied, generally in their 
full number and of their full size. But this is not nec- 
essary. This problem of school work should be met on 
its own conditions, not on the conditions of the carpen- 
ter's trade. Certain of the carpenter's tools, the planes 
and large saws, are awkward and difficult for boys under 
fourteen to handle. Others are easily handled and admi- 
rably suited to the needs of school work and with these 
tools everything desirable can be accomplished. With 
the chisel, back-saw, and laying-out tools, the whole field 
of joinery work can be covered. The saving in expense is 
also a very important item, as by leaving out the planes 
and large saws, the cost of tools for each boy is reduced 
one-half. 

As has before been emphasized the nature of the work 
must be suited to the age and developmeTit of the pupils 
dealt with. When the manual training schools were first 
inaugurated the shop-courses imitated those of the engi- 
neering schools, but experience soon showed that the 
different conditions needed different means, and courses of 
work have since been developed, better fitted to their 
special needs. And now the work attempted in the gram- 
mar school grades runs a similar risk in copying too 
closely the work of the Manual Training School. But 
what is fit for the engineering school is not necessarily fit 
for the manual training school, and what is fit for the 
manual training school is not necessarily fit for the gram- 
mar school grades. Little can be done here in actual 



i6 Manual Training in the Pjiblic Schools. 

construction, but much may be accomplished in exercises 
which, simple in themselves, develop in a high degree 
care and forethought and an appreciation of accuracy. 

The work of the Manual Training High School, now so 
fairly developed, can here be only mentioned. In the 
system commonly adopted each year has its special work. 
In the first year the woodwork develops exact judgment 
and keenness of observation ; the blacksmith work of the 
second year gives quickness and decision ; and in the last 
year the metal work brings out strongly the appreciation 
of exact accurate work and gives a mastery of mechanical 
principles. Here the necessity for perfect comprehension 
of each thing dealt with holds as strongly as in the lower 
grade work, and acquires a wider meaning. Woods must 
be studied as to their nature and laws of growth, their 
distribution, preparation for market and commercial form. 
The action of tools must* be analyzed and the under- 
lying principles be clearly set forth ; the metals must be 
treated in the same manner, their production explained 
and their strength and other properties studied. This 
analytical matter which is only now being properly devel- 
oped, is an integral part of any course dealing with the 
operations of tools in wood and metal and any scheme 
which neglects it can achieve but partial and one-sided 
results. 



Manual Training ijt the Public Schools. 



17 




Plate V. 
The fourth year grammar work is shown here. The field of simple 
joinery being fairly covered without the necessity of the large saws or 
the planes. 



APPENDIX. 



The suggestions of this paper relating to the primary 
and grammar grades have been summarized in the follow- 
ing scheme : — 

First Year — Handling and study of models, clay 

modeling, paper folding and drawing. 
Second Year — Handling and study of models, clay 
modeling, paper line work and folding, drawing. 
Third Year — Study of models, clay modeling of 
natural forms and simple casts, paper design, 
drawing. 



> 

(Si 



< 
Pi 

o 



f First Year — Making of geometric solids in paper, 
drawing. 
Second Year — Slip work in wood, drawing. 
Third Year — Exercises based on Sloyd, drawing. 
Fourth Year — Elements of joinery, drawing. 



Manual Training as Introduced into the 
New York Public Schools. 



Under the instruction of our Executive Committee, the 
special portion of this day's subject assigned to this 
paper is — "a discussion of the subject from the standpoint 
of the present curriculum, pointing out how the innovation 
may be made without undue sacrifice of anything of value 
that is now taught. Practical questions like those of 
time, ways and means, teaching-force, etc., should receive 
special treatment." 

Permit me to begin by indicating as clearly as I can 
what we in the public schools of this city understand as 
included under the unfortunate title " Manual Training-." 
I have no intention^ however, of attempting the dangerous 
task of endeavoring to give a condensed definition. That 
some necessity for such a definition does exist, at least 
sufficient to justify me in thus consuming a portion of my 
allotted time, may be gathered from the fact that even in 
the prescribed divisions for our own Standing Committee 
work, we find an apparently implied distinction drawn 
between, — (i) Kindergarten, (2) Form-study and Draw- 
ing^' (3) Usual School Work, and (4) Manual Training. 

Now, first, we in the public schools of this city include, 
as a matter of course, under Manual Training, form-study 
and drawing ; secondly, we agree perfectly with Dr. 
Woodward's statement in one of his many admirable 
addresses, that "The manual education which begins in 
the Kindergarten before the children are able to read a 
word should never cease ; " thirdly, in all our school 
work, usual and unusual, we call that method best which 
proceeds upon the basis of the study of things, not words 



20 Manual Training in the Public Schools. 

merely. It is object-teaching applied to our methods of 
instruction in all those subjects of our curriculum to which 
the invention and ingenuity of the thoroughly trained and 
enthusiastic teacher can apply such methods, — the only 
limitation in the application being the extent of the 
teacher's inventive faculty. We regard Manual Training, 
not as a new subject, — an innovation to displace other 
older subjects, but as a system of methods and devices 
in teaching, which take into account the paramount im- 
portance of addressing the mind of the child through the 
avenues of all his sense-organs, laying particular stress 
upon the use, hitherto much neglected, of the sense of 
touch and the muscular sense. We regard the mere man- 
ual training, or training of the hand, as purely incidental, 
though immensely valuable. 

Correct methods of teaching under this system must 
necessarily lead to facility in the use of the hand, but the 
mere facility is not aimed at as our ultimate object. Indeed 
when facility comes to such an extent, in any particular 
exercise, that the hand of the child begins to do the work 
so readily as to indicate that the best concentration of his 
thought is not demanded, we consider that the signal for 
an immediate change of exercise to the doing or making 
or handling, involved in some other tangible illustration, 
which will demand his full thought. We aim constantly 
at the production of thought-power in the child, with 
incidental hand-training, with incidental eye and ear train- 
ing; in short, with incidental sense-training. Our own 
division of our committee-work, in this Association, would 
seem to give force to the statement that shop-work, or 
working in wood or metal, constitutes the sum and sub- 
stance of manual training even in the minds of some of its 
best advocates. 

Just here it is appropriate to say that in the present 
movement in our New York City Board of Education, 
which has for its object the extension of the introduction, 



Manual Training in the Public Schools. 21 

within a few months (probably in the early part of next 
year), of manual training methods into all the public schools 
of the city, both the Special Committee of Eight and the 
Standing Committee on Course of Study of that body, are 
substantially agreed on the omission of the workshop, or 
working in wood as a necessary factor, — leaving to future 
development its gradual introduction. They will thus 
avoid, and I think wisely, the misconstruction that seems 
inevitable in some minds, that trade-teaching, or mere 
training in the use of trade tools is intended. They thus 
avoid, as well, the heavy initial outlay specially involved 
in the plant of workshop and kitchen, and silence some- 
what the usual outcry of those taxpayers who deem the 
cost of an improvement a proper objection to any progress 
looking towards the future welfare of the children. At the 
same time, under the plans proposed, the class teacher 
will be forced to prepare to do her work in all the subjects 
without the aid, while in presence of her class, of specialists. 

In a paper limited in time to twenty or twenty-five 
minutes it would be impossible to discuss in detail all the 
changes in time, ways and means, teaching-force, etc., 
which have attended the introduction, since February i, 
1888, of Manual Training into about twenty-five depart- 
ments of the school system of this City. A reading and 
comparison of the Teachers' Manual of 1884, which now 
governs the work in the great majority of our schools, and 
the Manual-Training Course of Study of 1888, which was 
compiled for the special use of the schools above alluded 
to, must be advised to those who desire full and accurate 
information. In this paper only a glance can be given 
towards some illustrations of the changes made and the 
ways and means adopted. 

In the Primary departments (age of pupil from five to 
about 9^ years) : — 

Development of conceptions of form through seeing 
objects, handling objects, clay-modeling, stick-laying, etc. 



22 Manual Training iti tJie Public Schools. 

Representation of conceptions of objects by clay-modeling, 
paper folding, paper cutting and drawing. 

Important memorandum : — "The child is not to be told 
what to see. He is told what to do with an object as a 
means of inducing him to discover some form or quality of 
it which ought to receive his careful attention ; but he 
should never be told something to be memorized and 
recited about the object." With this general statement 
the detail follows, including : — 

Study of the sphere, cube, cylinder, square prism, hemi- 
sphere, triangular prism, cone and vase-forms, and the 
surfaces, angles, lines, etc., involved. Handling the solids 
studied, modeling their forms and derived forms in clay, 
construction in paper, etc., etc., used in all this. 

The outline of this primary work can be found in greater 
detail from page 15 to page 43 of the Manual of 1888, 
referred to above. The time allotted, in so far as a possi- 
ble dissection as to time can be made (and it is only 
made here to meet the minds of those who contemplate 
"manual-training subjects" as separate and apart from 
"other" subjects in the curriculum), will be found to be 
about 300 minutes per week in each of the primary grades. 

In the third primary grade (age of pupil from about 7 
to 8 years) female pupils begin sewing, which is thence 
carried through all the remaining primary grades into and 
through the five lower grades (age of pupil from about 
9^ to I2j^ years) of the Female Grammar Departments, 
stopping where cooking begins. 

Geography in the primary grades is begun in the highest 
grade (age of pupil from about 8 to 9^ years); modeling 
in clay or sand the natural forms of land (islands, etc.), 
with attendant drawing is constantly used as a means of 
teaching. In the opinion of the writer of this paper the 
study of the subject could be begun, granting proper 
methods of presentation, with the pupil's first entrance 
into school (age 5 years). 



Manual Training in the Public Schools. 23 

In all the grammar grades (age of pupil from about 
9^ to 14+years) mechanical drawing is taught to both 
boys and girls. This includes a knowledge of the use of 
the ruler, triangles, square, compasses, scale, protractor, 
india-ink pens, etc. 

Geometry in the six lower grammar grades (age of 
pupil from about 9^ to 12^ years) is taught by means of 
graphic solutions, with attendant proofs by superposition, 
to both boys and girls. In the highest grade plane geom- 
etry, taught by means of the logical method, supplements 
the former method. Throughout all the work the con- 
struction of all the regular solids in paper from single 
sheets, with drawings of methods of construction in "the 
flat," is relied upon as our (to the pupil as well as the 
teacher) most delightful stimulant to independent thought. 
All the prisms, all the pryamids and their frusta, prisms 
and pyramids, in the higher grades, being readily cut 
by the pupils at varying angles with the line of altitude, 
are made from single sheets of paper. No one who has 
not seen the every-day work can understand the wonder- 
ful invention evidenced by even the youngest pupils in 
this work and the intense delight they show in doing 
it. Woven throughout all the geometrical work is the 
practice of what has been aptly termed " inventional 
geometry." 

Workshop practice is given in all of the five higher 
grammar grades for boys (age of pupil from about 10^ to 
14+years), involving preparatory working-sketches and 
working-drawings to scale. 

Cooking, or, rather, the physiology, hygiene, philosophy 
and chemistry underlying cookery, with their practical 
illustrations, is taught to the girls of the third and second 
grammar grades. Thus the sewing and cooking, taken 
together, balance, so to speak, the workshop practice of 
the five grammar grades for boys. 

In all the grammar grades modeling and map-drawing 



24 Manual Training in the Public Schools. 

are continued as methods in geography and historical 
geography ; and modeling as a means of form-study, for 
its help towards drawing and art-study, is constantly 
practiced. 

Now, as to time : — 

The minima in grammar grades are as follows : — 

Language Lessons, 43^ hours per week ; 

Arithmetic, ist to 5th grades, 2% hours ; 

Arithmetic, 6th to 8th grades, 3 hours ; 

Penmanship (or its application), 2 hours ; 

Geography, 3rd to 5th grades, i hour ; 

Geography, 6th to 8th grades, i]4 hours ; 

Shopwork, ist to 5th grades (boys), 2 hours ; 

Sewing, 4th to 8th grades (girls), i hour ; 

Cooking, 3rd to 2nd grades (girls), i hour. 

The remaining time to be arranged at the discretion of 
the Principal. A slight examination of the margin allowed 
will show the great scope permitted as a relief from a 
machine Schedule. 

I must again refer to the Manual of 1884. Some of the 
changes, besides those already indicated, made to meet the 
new work are : — 

In the primary grades the amount of geography, prin- 
cipally political, previously taught has been materially 
reduced, and the text-book, for home-lesson purposes, 
eliminated. 

In arithmetic, long division was cut out and sent to the 
grammar course. In the grammar grades in geography 
text-books (for memorizing home-lessons) were excluded 
from the lower grades (8th, 7th and 6th). History (5th 
to 2nd grades) is now taught by intelligently reading the 
subject in class, in constant connection with its incidental 
geography; the time for this "supplementary reading" 
being that formerly given to reading from a special "class 
reader." In the same way supplementary reading in geog- 
raphy and science is given where set class readers were 
formerly used. 



Manual Training in the Public Schools. 25 

A word remains to be said as to the way of managing 
the five workshop-grades, so as to give each boy two 
hours per week without trenching too much upon regular 
class work in other directions. Here the size of the room 
selected and the resulting number of work-benches came 
into play as important factors. My workshop, for in- 
stance, permits only 13 boys to receive instruction at one 
and the same time. In schools selected for manual train- 
ing since February 1st, 1888, having more favorable con- 
ditions, I understand that the facilities are such as to 
accommodate a much greater number. It is evident that, 
in my school, all the work in these five grades, other 
than that done in the workshop, had to be so arranged 
as to suit multiples of 13 ; — a class of 39 pupils giving, 
for instance, three workshop-divisions, one of 52 pupils 
giving four workshop-divisions, etc., etc. This at first 
view, to those in the rut of the old methods of class- 
instruction for class-results, seemed to be a problem in- 
capable of solution. What was the class teacher to do 
with those pupils remaining in her classroom in the ab- 
sence of the workshop-division .? Well, I can only say 
that we have found this apparent difficulty a blessing 
to the individual pupil. It has forced the class teacher 
to so study the individual necessities of her pupils as to 
best utilize their time as individuals. While the work- 
shop-division is away, the weaknesses of the other pupils 
in varying directions are attended to. As a rule no uni- 
form class-work is attempted during these separations. 
" Picking up loose threads" with individuals, as they may 
need special help, is what the teacher aims at. Some 
may be modeling, either for its application to geogra- 
phy or to form-study and drawing ; others, in making 
preparatory sketches or working-drawings for their own 
workshop exercises ; others, in finishing satisfactorily pre- 
viously incomplete, or imperfectly accomplished, work in 
any direction that the teacher deems advisable. While 



26 Manual Training in the Public Schools. 

this condition of affairs demands from the teacher a deep- 
er study of her pupils as individuals, and better and 
more rapid judgment, — what may by some teachers be 
called "harder work," — yet we have found that these very 
features make what at first seemed a disagreeable neces- 
sity a boon to the children. Let me here say in justice 
to my own faithful teachers, that they, too, fully appreciate 
the return they obtain from willing pupils, and are fully 
repaid by the evidently real progress jjiade in ability to 
think. 

A few words need to be said as to extra working-force 
in the corps of teachers. My judgment is that, with the 
exception of the present apparent necessity for a specialist 
in the " Workshop " and " Kitchen," there is no necessity, 
in so far as the introduction of manual training anywhere 
in the system is concerned, for special teachers : — and 
with proper training in the future on the part of every 
class teacher, even these specialists may, in time, become 
unnecessary. 

Before leaving this portion of my subject I deem it my 
duty to place upon record, in so far as I can with the 
opportunity now afforded me, my appreciation of the 
labors, not as yet fully and generally recognized, of one 
to whom more than to any one else belongs the credit 
of the new departure in the public schools of this City. 
During the year 1887, Mr. Thomas F. Harrison, then 
Assistant Superintendent of Schools, was assigned during 
four months, by action of the Board of Education, to the 
task of examining in many cities the development of this 
whole subject ; and of formulating, after consultation with 
the full Board of Superintendents, headed by City Super- 
intendent Jasper, a scheme for its wise introduction, with- 
out damaging shock to what was already good in our vast 
system, into our school work in this City. The Manual 
Training Course of Study of 1888, to which I have alluded, 
was the result,— and upon it has been built all that I have 



Manual Training in the Public Schools. 27 

described. After nearly a half-century of faithful work in 
this City, Mr. Harrison, on leaving the profession by his 
resignation of the position he had so long filled with honor 
to himself and profit to every teacher with whom he came 
officially in contact, could have left no more enduring 
monument of his foresight and genius than this work of in- 
spiration. To him, more than to any other single individ- 
ual, is to be attributed the fact that the new education has 
been grafted upon the public school work accomplished in 
this City with pupils ranging from five to fourteen years of 
age. And this is true at present, let it be remembered, 
only of the schools of the City of New York. 

I should feel that I had not done justice to the subject 
in hand did I not, before closing this paper, devote some 
words to what I deem to be the solution of the problem of 
the proper introduction of Manual Training into all the 
Public Schools of this City. The efforts of all interested 
in bestowing upon the children of this City the great 
boon of the introduction of the new education should 
be bent persistently towards inducing the establishment, 
by the Board of Education, of a Saturday Normal School. 
If within a few months, as now seems most likely, these 
methods are to be introduced into all the schools, it is 
evident that over 3000 teachers will be, almost imme- 
diately, brought face to face with the necessity of ob- 
taining, in some way, a knowledge of how to properly 
present them to children. These teachers, most of whom 
have either no conception or a false conception of what 
Manual Training means, must first be instructed them- 
selves, or the inevitable result will be a miserable fail- 
ure. The pressing and immediate necessity is the Sat- 
urday Normal School. To this school should be invited 
to serve as Professors the best specialists in the several 
directions involved, whether they be procurable in our 
own midst or from elsewhere. The only tests in the 
selection of these specialists should be their pre-eminent 



28 Manual Training in the Public Schools. 

ability, in the light of the new departure, first, to clearly- 
present the pedagogic principles underlying the teaching 
of their respective specialties ; secondly, to illustrate cor- 
rect methods of presentation to the children, in the day- 
by-day sequence of the prescribed work in the several 
grades ; and, thirdly, the further ability to present to the 
teachers corr.ect devices tested by experience or comform- 
able to methods based on approved pedagogic principles. 
Let such experts be welcomed, coming from no matter 
where, let them strive to vividly impress their spirit upon 
our teachers, and thus indirectly upon the future welfare of 
the children ; and finally, let the only test of their profes- 
sorial continuance in such an institution be the survival of 
the fittest. Any principal of a Manual Training School who 
has, during the past year, been endeavoring to "spread 
the light" among hundreds of inquiring visitors, will bear 
me out in stating that an almost dense ignorance of the 
subject characterizes even the professional teachers among 
these visitors, and that very {q\v could digest what they 
saw and heard. When teachers will, on entering, begin 
by informing you "that they have only fifteen minutes to 
afford to the examination of the subject, and would like to 
see your Manual Training as quickly as possible," it is 
easy to understand how ineffectual have been the efforts of 
those who have written volumes for the instruction of pro- 
fessional brothers and sisters. Mr. H. H. Boyesen, in a 
recent article upon a totally different subject written for 
the Forum, tells a story of his experience in this country, 
which is so apropos that I may be pardoned for reproduc- 
ing it here. He writes that, once having had the honor of 
waltzing with "an aspiring young lady," and " while they 
were whirling in the dizzy mazes," she said to him, 
" Now, won't you be kind enough to give me just in a few 
words the gist of Spinoza's ' Ethics > ' " One would almost 
imagine that the anxious, but hurried, inquirer into the 
subject of Manual Training expected to see something 



Manual Training in the Public Schools. 29 

like a "dime museum freak" trotted out from its cage on 
call. With such, patience ceases to be a virtue. 

In proposing the establishment of a Saturday Normal 
School I am voicing the sentiments and desires of the 
great majority of the teachers in tfeis City, who are only too 
anxious to do intelligently and well all that may be 
demanded of them, but who need light upon this subject. 
And, that I may not be misunderstood, let me say that 
the establishment of a permanent Normal School, such as 
I advocate, does not. in the slightest way, involve an 
arraignment of any college or school devoted to the 
preparation of persons desirous of entering upon the pro- 
fession of teaching. I am advocating the continuous 
professional training of those now actually teaching ; — in 
my opinion, a necessary supplement to the very valuable 
previous work, mainly theoretical, done in such colleges. 
I am advocating a Post-Graduate Normal School for the 
benefit of those who feel the necessity, while handling 
classes and while, if they be faithful, studying closely the 
workings of the child-mind, of coming for consultation, 
advice and inspiration, at least once a week, to experts in 
the many directions covered by our curriculum. 

Theoretical training before entering the profession, and 
the further, deeper and more difficult and serious study, 
after having become responsible for the future well-being 
of human lives and souls, are two totally distinct things. 
We need both in the City of New York, that it may 
keep its place in the van of progressive teaching, I 
believe we have in the public schools of this City, — no 
matter what may be flippantly said of exceptions to the 
rule, — a body of the most faithful, intelligent and pains- 
taking teachers to be found anywhere on this continent. 
Give them the opportunity I advocate, and they will rise 
to the demands of the new education so gladly and so 
enthusiastically as to satisfy the highest known standards 
of professional excellence. 



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EDUCATIONAL MONOGRAPHS 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



TiEW York College for the Training of Teachers 



NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, EDITOR 



Vol. III. No. 1. j ^'"'^tl^t'^^^nl'^Z'^ruZ''''''' } Whole No. 13. 



Manual Jraining 



Public Schools 



BY 



CHARLES R. RICHARDS 

Director of Mechanic Arts Dept, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, 



AND 



HENRY P. O'NEIL 

Principal of Grammar School No. 1, New York City. 



JANUARY, 1890 



New York: 9 University Place 
London: Thomas Laubie, 28 Paternoster Row 

T, -.i^^^^T^i [$1.00 Per Annum 

Issued Bi-Monthltj <■* 



"These publicatious are doing an admirable work."— G. Stanley Hall. 

EDUCATIONAL MONOGRAPHS 

Published under the auspices of the NEW YORK COLLEGE FOR THE 
TRAINING OF- TEA.CHERS, and written by the foremost Educators and 
Public School Workers both iu this country and abroad, furnish a seriee 
of papers to teachers on the Educational Questions of the Day. The papers 
are concise, clear and comprehensive, especial prominence being given to the 
Manual Training Movement. 

Six Mouogr.iphs appe ir e vch year, and the subscription price is fixed at 
the < xtreiuely low price of $1.00 per annum. 

The following have already appeared : 

I. A Plea for the Training of the Hand, by D. C. Gilman, LL.D., Presi- 

dent of Johns Hopkins University. — Manual Training and the Public 
School, by H. H. Belfield, Ph.D., Director of the Chicago Manual 
Training School. 24 pp. 
" For the stvideiit or teacher who ia making a study of manual training this first number 

of the Educational Monograph Series in the best possible introduction to the subject." 

— Science. 

II. Education in Bavaria, by Sir Philip Maonhs, Director of the City 

and Guilds of London Institute. 

III. Physical and Industrial Training of Criminals, by Db. H. D. Wet, 
of State Reformatory', Elmira, N. Y. 

IV. Mark Hopkins, Teacher, by Prof. Levekett W. Spbino, of Williams 
College. 

V. Historical Aspects of Education, by Oscar Browning, M. A., of 
King's College, Cambridge. 

VI. The Slojd in the Service of the School, by Dr. Otto Salomon, 
Director of the Noruuil School at Nails, Sweden. 

VII. -VIII. Manual Training in Elementary Schools for Boys, by 
Prof. A. Sluts, of the Normnl School, Brussels. 

IX. The Training of Teachers in Austria, by Dr. E. Hannak, Director of 
t>ie Pddngogium at Vienna. 

X. Domestic Economy in Public Education, by Mbs. Ellen H. 
Richards, of Ma.ss. Institute of Technology. 

XI. Form Study and Drawing in the Common Schools, by the late John 
H. French, Ph.D., Director of Drawing, New York State. 

" This Monograph will do ranch good. It is an exceedingly valuable aid to teachers." — 
W. S. GooDNOUGH, Superintendent of Drawing, Columbus, O. 

XII. Graphic Methods in Teachmg, by Charles Barnard. 

XIII Manual Training in the Public Schools, by Charles R. Richards 
and Henry P. O'Neil. 
Ttie following are in preparation: 

Manual Training in France, by A. Salicis, Inspector of Manual Training. 

Hand-Craft, by J. Crichton-Browne, M.D., F.R.S. 

The John F Slater Fund, by Atticus Haygood, D.D., Special Agent, 

The American High School, by Ray Greene Huong, of Ndw Bedford, 
Mass. 

The Teaching of History, by Dr. Edwabd Channing, of Harvard Univer- 
sity. 

Objections to Manual Training, by Col. Francis W, Pabkkb, of Cook 
Co. (111.), Normal School. 

The Jewish Theory of Education, by Prof. Henry M. Leepziger, Direct- 
or of the Hebrew Technical Institute. 
" The ideal and the possible are drawn nearer together in these helpful pamphlets than 

many people would venture to hope. The teacher who desires to be really progressive 

cannot afford to do without this series of masterly trficts."— r/ie American Hebrew. 

For Monographs, Leaflets or Circulars of Information, address, enclosing postal note 

or money order payable to the New York College for the Training of Teachers. One and 

two-cent stamps may also be sent. 

Registrar of the College for the Training of Teachers, 

^ University Place, New York City. 



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